nicole @nicole@myna.social

today in US healthcare weirdness: a medication I last filled when I was still at Google had run out. I went to refill it, and was told by the pharmacist that my current insurance doesn't cover it, so it'll be $1800. Also, there's no generic.

Did some googling: found a coupon that lowers the cost to $800. Not great, but definitely better than $1800.

Then saw a link to the manufacturer's site. Through Walgreens and some independent pharmacies, I can get the prescription filled for $65.

#Trans and other #queer people often need very different self-defence tactics to cishets.

This is a super useful zine that outlines tactics, advice and practices to respond to threats against you: https://www.silversprocket.net/2021/09/13/a-self-defense-study-guide-for-trans-women-and-gender-non-conforming-nonbinary-amab-folks/

#LGBTQ #Transgender

Our for-profit healthcare system is such a failure that it helped grow the anti-vax movement during a pandemic. The profit-motive erodes trust. Not only would universal healthcare be more efficient and lead to better outcomes, but it could also help restore trust.
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RT @acsifferlin
"Many physicians are now finding it difficult to quash the suspicion that our institutions, and much of our work inside them, primarily serve a moneymakin…
https://twitter.com/acsifferlin/status/1622237611585576960

Pass the popcorn, folks.

Ron DeSantis hasn't even declared for President yet, but the gloves are already off after Trump shared a meme accusing DeSantis of being a groomer. You can see it here: https://secondnexus.com/donald-trump-meme-desantis-groomer?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=toot&utm_campaign=2N

My greatest hope for the Barbie movie is that when the romance heats up and sex seems imminent two giant hands appear onscreen to lift up the fully clothed actors and shmoosh them together a few times

periodic reminder that instead of advocating for trans people to have the right to self-ID their gender on gov't docs, we can and should advocate for the removal of gender from gov't docs

society: damn misinfo at scale is getting a bit out of hand lately. seems like a problem.

tech guys: i have invented a machine that generates misinformation. is that helpful?

The problem with rockstar developers is that a high performing team is an orchestra and rockstars don’t play well in orchestras.

🕯️ tarot is silly. magic isn’t real.

💡tarot is a stochastic tool for communicating with your subconscious

☀️ tarot is a window into the invisible world and should not be taken lightly

🌌 my deck is mad at me for shuffling it wrong

When George Hayward was as Facebook data-scientist, his bosses ordered him to run a #NegativeTest, updating Messenger to deliberately drain users' batteries, in order to determine how power-hungry various parts of the apps were. Hayward refused, and FB fired him, and he sued:

https://nypost.com/2023/01/28/facebook-fires-worker-who-refused-to-do-negative-testing-awsuit/

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained

1/

People worry a lot about losing knowledge — about "burned-down libraries".

Comparatively few people seem to worry about what happens if you take a billion books full of auto-generated, often-untrue junk text and *add* them all to the library.

In theory, nothing is lost. In reality, everything is lost, because nothing useful can now be found.

Warm regards to Hypatia and to all the keepers of books from Ancient Egypt to this present moment.
If you live in a state where books are being banned, the Brooklyn Public Library offers a free eCard nationwide to those aged 13 to 21 to access their entire digital catalog for one year in an effort to combat this horrendous act.

https://www.bklynlibrary.org/media/press/brooklyn-public-library-94?s=09
#bookstodon